An Egyptian Cobra, like this one at the Bronx Zoo, got loose and bit a passenger on an Egypt Air flight this week. / Julie Larsen Maher, Wildlife Conservation Society via AP

by John Bacon, USA TODAY

by John Bacon, USA TODAY

An Egypt Air pilot on a Kuwait-bound flight from Cairo was forced to make an emergency landing in Egypt after a passenger was bitten by a snake as other terrified passengers looked on, an airline official told The Jordan Times.

The Jordanian passenger had smuggled the snake onto the plane, Adli Saad, head of the Egypt Air office in Al Ghardaqa Airport, told the Times.

The passenger, Akram Abdul Latif, was trying to control the Egyptian Cobra after it began crawling under the seats of other passengers Monday, Saad said. He told the Times the pilot landed at the airport in the Red Sea resort city of Al Bahr Al Ahmar so the Abdul Latif could receive medical treatment.

The plane, which was carrying 90 passengers, continued its trip later that day, Saad said.

Abdul Latif, 48, told authorities he owned a reptile shop in Kuwait and was the owner of the snake, which he had hidden in a bag, Saad said.

"He was bitten in his hand and after we administered first aid he insisted on taking the snake with him to Kuwait," Saad told the Times.

Doctors advised that Abdul Latif should at least spend 24 hours in hospital for observation, but he refused, Saad said.